New Southeast 202

***This page is a description of this peakbagging project, including both an explanation of the list itself as well as a bit of the story behind how it went and some nice photos at the end!!! If you want to see an enumeration of all of the peaks done as part of this project, check out this page here!!!***

In the spring of 2023, after spending three months building out a van that I bought and converting it into a mobile-living space, I set out to climb the tallest peaks of the Southern Appalachians: the 202 5000fter mountains. I felt like this was a worthy successor to my original list of the 115, and that the somewhat localized nature of these peaks would allow me to put down some roots in the western NC area. Welp, neither of those two things happened. The list of the 5000fters is good, but unfortunately flawed in several key aspects. Firstly, several of the peaks lie on private property, and while I have no ideological problem passing by a "no trespassing" sign, I can't just turn around and post about it online, thereby making my dislike of private property laws a moot point. Secondly, many of the peaks are only accessible by bushwhacking, which, I discovered, it not my favorite passtime, especially when I'm bushwhacking in the late spring/early summer, which happened a fair amount. Thirdly, for those peaks that do have maintained paths to the summit, many are roads, thereby making me more likely to drive up more of the way or take a bike up, neither of which I see an issue with, but which purists of peakbagging would galk at

I made it about three weeks before I adjusted my peakbagging goals from the 202 500fters, to a list of the 100 highest and 100 most prominent peaks in the south, with a few more 5000fters thrown in there for good measure. However, the most prominent peaks brought in way more challenges than the highest, and so eventually this list would be bastardized into the current iteration: the New Southeast 202. This list contains all of the South's 6000fters and P2ks, along with a large number of additional 5000fters and P1ks, plus some other mountains randomly thrown in there for good measure. There's no rhyme or reason to the list, and there are still private property peaks that you'll have to ask permission on, and paths you'll have to bushwhack for yourself, but I promise you, the list is doable, and contains some of the most spectacular peaks I've ever climbed. I highly doubt anyone will ever pursue my list, but my hope is that someone may look at it and decide to hike one or two of the mountains on it near where they are - but a girl can only dream

As for how I accomplished this, broadly speaking, I started in western NC before going on a big loop around northern GA, AL, TN, KY, and the westernmost part of VA. Then I descended back into the NC area for another while, then another smaller loop through GA and TN, before heading up the Blue Ridge Parkway till Shenandoah, passing into West Virginia, before finishing up the list in Pennsylvania, a move which I have had to defend, as many people are unaware of the topographical regions of the Appalachians which loop the Catskills in with the mountains of West Virginia and which loop the Taconic Range in with the mountains of Newfoundland. Pennsylvania is, topographically speaking, part of the Southern Appalachians, and I will die on this hill

Anyhow, even though I constantly changed the list I was pursuing, I found the New 202 to be rewarding and I was really happy that my project was able to reach more people. I think the best part of this project was that I now feel like I've done 95% of what I want to do hiking in the South, which opens the door after I finish the 131 to head out west and stay there for several years, which is a prospect I'm strongly looking forward to. Feel free to enjoy some of my favorite flag photos from this project :)